Alabama Congressman Spencer Bachus likes to pretend that he is opposed to government-run health care. At a “town hall” meeting on Monday, August 17th, for example, Bachus spoke repeatedly against the idea that the government should run health care.

Bachus asked the rhetorical question, “Do they really think the government will run it cheaper?” The government would destroy health care, Bachus said. “The federal government, what they’re going to do is they tax something, and if that doesn’t stop it, they regulate it, and if that doesn’t stop it, they take it over and subsidize it.” After the meeting, Bachus announced, “I am opposed to a government takeover of health care because it will lead to rationing, reduce quality, and raise costs.”

The truth is, though, that Representative Bachus does support government run health care. He just doesn’t like to put it that way.

Less than one month before Bachus made his crowd-pleasing statements condemning government-run health care, he announced his support for it – just as long as it’s in his home district in Alabama. On July 24th, Bachus declared that he had succeeded in slipping an earmark into a Health and Human Services appropriations bill. The earmark provided federal government money for the Northport Medical Center in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

If the private, market-based health care system works so well, how come it depends upon federal government handouts of the sort that Congress Bachus has provided? Part of the answer is that the Northport Medical Center isn’t really a private, market-based health care provider.

Northport Medical Center is private only in name. It is operated by the DCH Health System. The DHS Health System describes itself as follows: “The DCH Health System is a government subdivision that operates a community-owned healthcare system. The system consists of DCH Regional Medical Center, Northport Medical Center, Fayette Medical Center and Pickens County Medical Center. These facilities are owned by the public, and the system is operated on behalf of the public by the DCH Health System Board of Directors. DCH Health System is similar in its structure and operation to other local authorities, such as the Park and Recreation Authority (PARA).”

Spencer Bachus is posing as an opponent of government-run health care, but in his own back yard, he helps to keep a government-run health care system going by feeding it through congressional earmarks. Do his constituents realize that the very politician who warns of a “government takeover” of health care gives money to the government-controlled health care infrastructure that already dominates the practice of medicine in their district?

If Congressman Bachus believes that government-run health care is good enough for Tuscaloosa, why won’t he support it for the rest of the country?